HyperMesh and Custom Export Template Streamline CFD Analysis in Research Projects at Arizona State University

Integrative Simulations & Computational Fluids Lab researchers from SEMTE (School for Engineering of Matter Transport and Energy) at the Arizona State University (ASU) wanted to use the commercial code HyperMesh as a general preprocessor to mesh complex geometries for use with the spectral element CFD code Nek5000. The challenge was to benefit from the rich functionality of existing meshing tools such as HyperMesh while using the Nek5000 code, since this CFD code requires 3D hexahedral elements. SEMTE researchers set up a project to develop a converter tool with which a HyperMesh mesh could be exported into a format the Nek5000 code could work with. With this export template the overall process is now much more user-friendly and less error-prone. The mesh is generated in HyperMesh and the export template organizes all the data and sorts it so it can be imported in the proper formats into the Nek5000 user template.